Tennis
Emma Raducanu of England wins in straight sets at Wimbledon to advance.
After winning her opening-round singles match against Alison Van Uytvanck in straight sets, Emma Raducanu declared that she is prepared to apply the lessons she gained from her breakthrough year to this Wimbledon.
In 101 minutes, Raducanu defeated Van Uytvanck, winning 6-4, 6-4 in her debut match on Centre Court.
It’s fantastic to play on Centre Court and win your first game, remarked Raducanu. “Now I’m just going to have a nice first experience every time I go back,” the student said.
After being eliminated in the fourth round of last year’s Wimbledon main event, Raducanu came back this year. She received a wild card to Wimbledon last year and was seeded 338th; this time around, she was on Centre Court as the current US Open winner and was ranked No. 11.
However, due to a side strain, Raducanu had only played seven games (not matches) of grass-court tennis all season, raising concerns about her fitness going into the competition. But in her first game on Wimbledon’s main court, she won in straight sets for the first Grand Slam victory since the US Open in 2016.
Raducanu declared, “I most definitely have a really nice spirit.” How are you not playing here, like? Even just moving around makes you feel happy. In the past year, I feel like I’ve learned a lot.
“However, not everything has been bad. Every Slam started with a victory for me. I basically just took my gap year when I was 19 and am starting again now.
“I believe that any 19-year-old stepping onto Centre Court would be a good experience for you if the previous year hadn’t occurred. It was, too. And I certainly demonstrated that today.
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Raducanu said that she had drawn inspiration from Rafael Nadal’s ability to overcome injury to win both the Australian Open and the French Open this year while wearing items from his clothing line after the match.
Raducanu stated, “I believe Rafa simply embodies combat, that sort of energy. “I’ll be bringing that in. I believe that I have had a difficult year in terms of energy, as if it were any mystery. Simply going out on Center Court and winning like that makes it all worthwhile.
“I am undoubtedly delighted to be here. The lessons I’ve learned during the past year will serve me well in the future.
The first set got off to a shaky start, but Raducanu and Van Uytvanck traded serve breaks before Raducanu broke the Belgian to make it 5-4 and then served out the game. Similar events occurred in the second set, with Raducanu breaking at the crucial time of 4-4 to serve out a 6-4 victory and end the match by converting the second of three match points.
After a few of weeks that were hampered by injury, Raducanu will focus her preparation for her second-round match against Caroline Garcia on Wednesday on managing her pace.
After just playing the game, Raducanu claimed, “I think that right now I think that I’m still, like, very much on adrenaline.” “I had a pleasant feeling there. Physically, the second set was challenging at times, but I kept telling myself to “push through” and win in two sets to avoid having to play three. That is the strategy.
Last year at this time, Raducanu managed to avoid detection, but anonymity didn’t help this time.
“You gain knowledge from every competition or game you participate in. It makes everything into a useful tool for the future, according to Raducanu.
“In a way, I think it benefits when you play someone you haven’t played before since no one knows you or your game. Due to the fact that nobody really knew who I was last summer, I had a wonderful experience with it.
Since then, I believe that people have seen me and improved their level, their performance, and their tennis. I haven’t necessarily had a poor performance in many of the games.
“I believe that returning here will always be a special competition for me, my home competition. I had amazing recollections. Simply put, I’m eager to return and play here.
No. 2 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, No. 3 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, No. 24 Elise Mertens of Belgium, and No. 29 Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine were among the other women who advanced as seeds. In the second round, Kalinina will compete against Lesia Tsurenko, another Ukrainian.
The first person to advance to the second round was an American named Alison Riske. Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland was upset by the American, the 28th seed, 6-2, 6-4.
Dominic Thiem recognized that he supported a rib injury at the Australian Open. He would attempt to recuperate in time for the Davis Cup qualifiers that start the next month.
Previous U.S. Open champ Thiem has dove to number 98 on the planet because of his ongoing physical issue issues.
The 29-year-old Austrian was given a special case to the Australian Open, where he lost to fifth seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets subsequent to pulling a rib muscle while serving.
“Tragically, the year didn’t get off to the beginning I had expected. I needed to do the best that I can with, particularly in Melbourne, yet I tore a little muscle fiber in my rib “Posted on Instagram by Thiem.
“Because of the discoveries, contending in the Davis Cup ought to be practical. I’ll do all that I can this approaching week to rehearse hard and become in shape.”
Rafael Nadal has a lot of fans. The top-seeded player, who will start his Australian Open campaign on Monday against left-handed opponent Jack Draper, walked out for his first practice session in front of a crowd that was packed outside the arena.
Nadal has played seven matches since the end of the last season. He has a record of 0-7, and he is 0-2 so far this year. Nadal is the current champion of the men’s singles event in Australia.
This man can draw a crowd 👀@rafaelnadal • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/YBdztsLuNJ
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2023
Even though Nadal is the defending champion at Melbourne Park thanks to his comeback from two sets down in last year’s final, which he called “one of the most emotional victories of my tennis career,” he is currently going through one of the worst stretches of his career. So far in 2023, he is 0-2 and has only won one of the seven games he has played since the end of the previous season.
When asked about how weak he felt at a news conference before the tournament on Saturday, Nadal didn’t try to hide anything.
“Yeah. Without knowing, “The 36-year-old man from Spain had a lot of health problems in 2022, including pain in his left foot that wouldn’t go away, broken rib cartilage, and a torn abdominal muscle. Many bad things were said to happen to him in the year 2022. “I’ve had more setbacks than usual lately…. It’s something I have to deal with if I want to keep going and win battles.
Having lost to a motivated John Isner in the second round on Wednesday, two-time champion Andy Murray experienced his earliest exit from Wimbledon.
Murray had won all eight of their prior encounters, but in their first meeting on grass, the 20th-seeded American out-served Murray magnificently to secure an outstanding triumph.
Isner, 37, won 43 of 61 points at the net, hit 82 winners, including 36 aces, and took both of his two break points.
Isner stated, “Look, it’s no secret that I am not a better tennis player than Andy Murray. “I believe that I performed slightly better than he did today.
“At the age I am today, I need to savour these occasions. One of my career’s biggest victories is this one. It is a major accomplishment for me to have played as well as I did against one of our greatest players in history. He is a huge source of motivation for each and every person in the locker room.”
Murray, 35, dropped his serve in the third game after missing two weeks of competitive play before to Wimbledon due to an abdominal issue.
In the ensuing game, he created two break opportunities, but Isner, 37, saved both and held onto the lead to win the opening set.
Murray rallied to win the third set in a tiebreak, 7-3, after Isner had won the second set tiebreak 7-4.
Isner broke for a 3-2 victory despite Murray having the momentum. When play resumed after the roof was closed due to darkness at 4-2, Murray held and subsequently had a 0-30 advantage on Isner’s serve, but he was unable to take advantage.
Murray held for a score of 5-4, but Isner easily served out to set up a third-round matchup with 10th seed Jannik Sinner.
Murray expressed disappointment that the abdominal injury he sustained in Stuttgart earlier this month had limited his ability to prepare for the competition.
I was in a good place with my game, so it’s annoying, he added. “That was ineffective. The good news is that I was in good physical condition throughout the contests. On the Wednesday and Thursday before the event, it was rather uncertain how I would perform. On the court, however, I felt strong physically. I just wasn’t able to pull through today.”
Murray stated that he intends to attend Wimbledon again.
It depends on my physical condition, he answered. “I’m in good physical shape, so we’ll attempt to keep playing. Making long-term forecasts about how I’ll be in a year, much alone a few weeks from now, is quite difficult, though, given the issues I’ve had with my body in recent years.
“Yes, I will continue to play if I’m in good physical shape. But maintaining my body in top shape to perform at the highest level is difficult.”
Now Murray is working to raise his ranking from 52, where it now stands, to a position where he will be a Grand Slam seed.
I thought I could have a deep run going into Wimbledon,” he remarked. “It obviously becomes a little bit more difficult if you are playing against great players right at the start of the competition. I guess you could say that’s what I want to do before the US Open.”
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